Apr 17, 2014

Did you ever get to ride in a dome car?

When we were younger and traveled on the NP's North Coast Limited we stopped at Livingston, Montana on our honeymoon in 1963. here they washed the windows of the dome cars so we would have no obstruction to seeing the magnificent Rocky Mountains we will soon be in..
 
This NCL has 4 dome cars and a boat tail observation heading west according to the shadows on the car.
 
Talk about a view! In any other car you would see very little of this looking straight out the car side
windows. This is the so called "John Allen" bridge as the scenery was spectacular as we head down
the hill approaching a little town called "Butte" Montana. The butt of many jokes. Many of these rocks
looked like black eggs sunk into the land, something a deranged modeler would do on his layout.
 
As you approached the dome from inside the car you would see stairs leading up to the chairs. This was taken in Spokane
where 5 or 6 NP cars are preserved by Mike Gilhouse.
 
The NP monad is the symbol of Ying and Yang, or good and bad, hot or cold, etc. NP wanted to be the connection with the United States and the Orient.
 
As a railfan and modeler the dome also gave you the opportunity to shoot passing trains. This one is an NP freight train as their engines in freight service were black, yellow and red.

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